This disclosure relates generally to adjusting a moveable viewing-window, and more specifically to automated adjustment of the landing position of the viewing-window to modify display of a content item at the landing position.
Users may initiate movement of the viewing-window to quickly move through a feed of content items on the display of a device and locate specific content items that interest them. This movement of the viewing-window is commonly referred to as “scrolling.” Scrolling can be accomplished using a variety of input sensors including a keyboard, a mouse wheel, and a capacitive screen.
User engagement with a content provider, as well as with the specific content items provided, may be dependent upon the content items on which the viewing-window lands when scrolling stops. For example, if the user lands on a content item that they find interesting, the user may select that content item to examine more closely, and then continue to scroll through the content provider feed. On the other hand, if the user lands on an uninteresting content item, or a content item is only partially viewable within the screen, the user might choose to leave the content provider feed altogether. Content items seen by a user when scrolling stops are dependent upon the viewing-window landing position following the scroll. As a result, the landing position of the viewing-window following scrolling is essential to content-user interaction.
Existing landing position determination algorithms rely on dampening functions that enable scroll movement to gradually decelerate and come to a natural stop. This gradual slowing of movement makes the scroll appear natural to the user. This is an attractive solution because it makes the user feel as though they are in control of the scroll and the content that they see. However, this scroll deceleration algorithm is currently applied uniformly to all scrolls, and is inextensible to manipulation of scrolling based on presentation of desired content items. Therefore, this deceleration algorithm may result in presentation of less desirable content items, or presentation of content items in an undesirable format. For example, the viewing-window may stop on a content item that is irrelevant to the user, or only on the lower half of the content item such that the user cannot view the title of the content item. This may result in the user missing content items that may be of interest to them, and subsequently leaving the content provider feed as a result of disinterest.